Feng Shui Wall Color Ideas

The practice of feng shui originated in ancient China, according to The Everything Feng Shui Book, written in 2002. Feng shui teaches that everything in an environment, including the use of color, has the potential to create positive or negative realities, depending on its location.

Significance
Minimizing clutter and placing certain objects, colors and shapes in specific areas and directions can enhance harmony and balance in a home, represented in the bagua or determined with a compass.

Bagua and Engergy Areas
The bagua refers to the eight energy areas (Thai Chi) and directions of any area, inside or outdoors. These areas include knowledge, family, wealth, fame, marriage, children and creativity, mentors and travel, and health. Find corresponding areas by centering the front door in or near the career area.

Five Elements and Color Symbolism
Five elements (fire, earth, metal, water and wood) correspond to the flow of energy in the environment. These energies can be represented symbolically through specific colors and correspond to areas on the bagua.

Best colors for each energy area
Career: Create a harmonious life path and improve social relationships by using black and dark blues.

Knowledge: Support self and spiritual wisdom by using blue in this area. Browns are also complementary.

Family: Boost family harmony, respect for the blessings of ancestors and a sense of personal power with green in the family area.

Wealth: Realize greater abundance by placing purple in the wealth area. Dark green also works well.

Fame: Experience inspiration to achieve goals and improve reputations with the color of fire, red. Bright orange also works well.

Marriage: Using pink helps improve the relationships of those who live in a home and between business partners.

Children and Creativity: White and metallic colors work best to support ideas, improve the ability to complete work and encourage fun.

Mentors and Travel: Encourage the ability to attract and offer help with gray. The element of metal is also mirrored with whites and metallics.

Health: Sustain the good health of all living beings in your home environment by using yellow in the health area.

Potential
As with any practice with a long, established history, feng shui has many applications for modern life. Those who apply its guidelines join the collective energies of all who came before, increasing the harmony for all.

Feng Shui Door Colors

Feng Shui is a practice that claims to use color and placement to affect energy, or chi, within the home. Choosing the right door color for the front door and other doors within the home can affect the Feng Shui balance of the building and is said to lead to positive effects for the individuals who live there.

Red
Feng Shui recommends painting the front door red if the house faces south. The direction of the home plays a major role in determining the best color for a door. Red is said to help improve fame and reputation. The front door is also called the mouth of chi since energy enters and leaves the home. Choosing a bright and auspicious color, according to Feng Shui, will fill the home with more positive chi and reduce negative energy.

Yellow
According to the Easy Feng Shui website, individuals with doors that face northeast, southwest, west or northwest should paint the doors yellow. Yellow is a bright color that attracts positive chi to the home and can influence the energy levels of the house, according to Feng Shui practices. The direction of the door is determined by standing inside the room and facing the door; the compass direction from that vantage point is the direction of the door.

Cool Colors
Easy Feng Shui recommends blue, green, black or purple doors, among other colors like turquoise and white, to individuals with doors that face north, northeast, east, southeast or south. These colors help to open the mouth of chi and make the door visible and inviting to new opportunities. An important factor in choosing a color is to ensure that it is kept looking fresh and neat as peeling or cracked paint can represent depleted chi, according to the website.

Feng Shui Nursery Colors

Feng shui revolves around the notion that interior design elements can help or harm mental, spiritual and emotional well-being in people. This can include the direction furniture faces in a room, room location and arrangement of furniture in a room. Parents want to start their newborns off on the right foot and may look for feng shui tips in order to do so. While objects in a room are important to feng shui, another aspect is the choice of color for walls and decorations.

Bagua Colors
Colors in feng shui are said to represent certain aspects of life in addition to emotions. You can decorate a certain area of the house to correspond with the eight areas of the bagua map. Using a bagua map involves overlaying a home’s floor plan with the bagua map, then trying to decorate the home accordingly. For example, if a baby’s nursery is located in the far right corner of the home, pinks should be incorporated into the design in order to correspond with the area of relationship, love and marriage.

Earth Tones
Earth tones give a nursery a feeling of stability, according to Tarot.com. Choose colors like beige, tan, pumpkin or rose to create a relaxing, warm and nurturing environment for the baby. Brown and shades of brown give babies a sense of security which can be important just after birth.

Pastels
Like earth tones, pastels are soothing shades for children and help them sleep well and feel calm. Light pinks, greens and blues stimulate infant development, according to feng shui expert Ken Lauher. Bedrooms should be decorated in colors representing a yin energy in order to promote a sense of relaxation. Yin colors are soft and muted, like pastels. The presence of pastels should help the baby sleep through the night and feel more rested.

Complementary Colors
Finding the right color pairs is helpful when decorating a nursery, as they can create a better feeling of nurturing and relaxation. Bella Online mentions green and blue, white and beige as well as pink and yellow as color combinations that promote restfulness and create a soothing environment.

Unwanted Colors
When considering colors to use, know which colors should be avoided. Red pops up often as a color that should be left out of a nursery. According to Chesapeake Family, red can cause children to have a hard time sleeping through the night. Colors associated with hazards, such as red and variants thereof, should be avoided. Strong, bright colors may be too stimulating for a nursery and create a chaotic feel to the room. In addition, black should be avoided, especially if white is used within a room, because the colors have too much contrast and disrupt the soothing feeling of a nursery.

Feng Shui Cures for the Wrong Placement of a Front Door

Feng Shui, meaning "wind" "water," is an ancient Chinese philosophy of designing space and items for beneficial influence, "chi" or breath of life. Today, an increased interest in Feng Shui has sparked books, articles and jobs, as Feng Shui consultants visit offices as well as homes, with the goal of helping the natural flow of energy. According to Feng Shui, correct front door placement and surroundings are a vital element in the entire dwelling.

The Direction and Colors of the Front Door
The first consideration is the direction that the front door faces: north, south, east or west, or a combination of directions. Each direction benefits from specific colors and materials. While many designers state that a door should be red, the red doors in China are also facing south. In northern climes, the doors face a variety of directions, which impact the Feng Shui design.

According to Easy Feng Shui, north-facing doors should be blue, black or white. Doors to the east should be green, blue or turquoise. South doors are painted warm colors such as red, pink or purple. West doors do well in white, yellow, gold or silver. Magenta is another option.

Front Door Surroundings
According to Feng Shui Prophet, careful designers consider the structural surroundings of the front door. One general guideline is that the front door should not look onto the back door, which means that beneficial energy will enter and exit too quickly. Beneficial energy is blocked if the front door is opposite a staircase, a corner or a post or column. Other undesirable views to avoid include a front door with a view of a toilet, of a stove or fire place, or a bedroom or sitting room. It's never good if the front door is lower than a toilet.

Regarding the door, be sure to place furniture so that no one is sitting with their back to the door. The door's size is important. Small doors require mirrors in the proximity, but not opposite the door. A large door could let in too much chi at once, a problem remedied with windchimes hanging near the door. The door should open without hitting furniture. When hanging a door, the hinges must be near the wall.

Appearance of the Front Door
In Feng Shui, the first impression and appearance of the front door sets the stage for the energy of the entire house. A clean, welcoming and uncluttered front door and area invites beneficial energy into the home. According to Feng Shui practicioner Lori Grear, a front door and area that appears neglected or unwelcoming deprives the dwelling's inhabitants of the beneficial energy, the life's breath of the house.

Lori first suggests making sure that the front door opens easily. Doors that stick or scrape upon opening will bring a negative influence that causes the inhabitants to work harder for what they want. She also advises removing clutter, including broken or unused objects, which bring a broken, cluttered energy. Make sure that the hardware on the door is shiny and clean. After cleaning the front door area, it's best to use the front door regularly, even if there are other entrances. Using the front door opens up the home to beneficial energy. For those who seek financial gain, Lori likes to place five new shiny pennies under a mat that says "Welcome."

Cures for Front Doors in Feng Shui

Feng shui is the ancient Chinese art of placement that determines the flow of positive energy, or chi, in relation to the objects, siting or construction of houses and businesses. Chi is responsible for health, harmony and prosperity. One of the key areas of concern in feng shui is the front door, where energy enters the home or building. There are cures for inauspicious conditions that can help to restore balance and good fortune.

Structural Problems
Several structural issues affect the flow of chi through the front door and can have a negative effect on health and prosperity. A door jamb that is rotted or is not flush with the bottom of the door for any reason should be replaced. If an exposed beam crosses the door, drop the ceiling to cover the beam so it will not block prosperity from entering. If the front door opens to a window, the chi will exit without circulating. If there are windows on either side of the door, good fortune is pulled out. Block the chi opening of a window with closed Venetian blinds, and keep the chi inside the front door by placing two round-leafed plants on the window sills next to the door. If the front door opens to a bathroom door, keep the bathroom door closed so the yin energy of the toilet does not drain the yang energy of prosperity as it enters the front door.

Appearance
The path to the front door should be nicely landscaped, open, clean and inviting. An overgrown collection of greenery can scramble or deflect the good chi. Be sure the house number is clearly visible so friends and good fortune can easily find you. The color of the door should correspond with the direction it faces and the element for that direction. The wrong color will soak up good luck every time you pass through the door. If your door is the wrong color, repaint it. Paint southwest- and northeast-facing doors yellow or brown; west- and northwest-facing doors white, silver, copper or gold; north-facing doors black or blue; east- and southeast-facing doors green; and south-facing doors red, pink or burgundy. If anything angled is pointing at your front door, like the sharp corner of a building or the edge of a roof, it will transform good energy into harmful energy. This is known as a "poison arrow" and is countered by hanging a flat bagua mirror over the door. The bagua is an octagon that contains the feng shui design for the nine categories or life areas of a space, and the flat bagua mirror will protect everyone who lives in the house from negative influence in any of the categories.

Flow
If you walk in the front door and can see directly out of the back of the house, through large windows or glass doors, there is nothing stopping the good chi from rushing in and straight out of your home. Hang a faceted crystal or a faceted crystal globe in between the front door and the back of the house to catch and hold the good energy or you will not experience prosperity. If there is a mirror facing the front door, it will reflect the abundant chi right back out, repelling prosperity. Move the mirror to another wall. The front door must open inward to allow chi to flow easily into the home. The cure for a door that opens out is to re-hang the door so it opens inward. If your back door is larger than your front door---or if the front door is extremely wide or very narrow---hang a faceted crystal globe inside the front door to balance its energy, create harmony and prevent opportunity from slipping away.

Bathroom Feng Shui Tips & Cures

Feng shui is a Chinese philosophy based on the idea of using spatial arrangement to affect the flow of energy. According to the philosophy, this arrangement creates a balance that positively affects the practitioner’s lifestyle in numerous ways. Each room in the host adheres to feng shui principles in its own way. Traditionally, the bathroom presents some energy-related problems. Luckily, feng shui practitioners can fix this with a few simple tips and cures.

Placement
Much of feng shui is based on the ba gua, a traditional Chinese map of balanced spaces. As the map predates modern plumbing, it does not illustrate bathroom placement. This raises the question of what makes a well-placed bathroom according to feng shui. Keep in mind that bathrooms have a constant draining effect, displacing important energy known as “chi.” Author Stephanie Roberts of Fast Feng Shui.com says to avoid a bathroom in the front hall or close to a home's main entrance as it drains chi before it can enter the home. Likewise, a second-floor commode above the front entrance cycles negative chi downward, while an upstairs bathroom above the kitchen funnels extinguishing water energy onto the fire energy of the hearth. Avoid bathrooms in the home's center, as they drain chi at a central point. If given the choice, place your bathroom in locations near the rear of the home or in secluded non-central locations that don't affect the chi of nearby areas.

Cures
Many of us don't choose the placement of our bathrooms; luckily, feng shui cures exist to counter troubled locations. If you feel your bathroom is draining chi from an important ba gua area—such as family, creativity or wisdom areas—place a long mirror on the bathroom door to redirect the energy. To prevent further loss of chi, close all the bathroom drains and the toilet seat when not in use. A bathroom at the center of the home calls for red-painted walls and a large “earth object”--something of stone or crystal, such as a ceramic vase—in each corner. Bathrooms located over the kitchen may benefit from earth objects in all corners, a three-inch round mirror on the ceiling and a faceted crystal hanging from the room's center. Downstairs rooms affected by downward funneling negative energy can use images of birds or trees to lift energy upward.

Aesthetics
Perhaps most importantly, keep your bathroom clean, well-ventilated and well-ordered. The constant flow of chi can affect the rest of the home, and a dirty space will negatively affect said chi. Consider accenting the bathroom with earth objects and bamboo, which grows upward and represents profit. Allow natural light and air to flow into the bathroom using windows and mirrors, and avoid keeping family pictures in this space. Keep a screen or curtain between the shower and toilet areas and avoid decorating with sharp objects. When it comes to colors, choose earth tones—to absorb and maintain the bathroom's water energy—light grays, creams and light blues (unless located on the center portion of the ba gua, which calls for red colors to inhibit the drain of wealth). Use a black or red rug at the base of the toilet to prevent the draining of wealth.

How to Use Feng Shui to Choose Color for Your Room

If you want to create a certain mood in a space, you may want to use Feng Shui to choose color for your room. Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese art of placement that focuses on enhancing the flow of positive life force energy called chi. This energy is influenced by the five elements: earth, fire, wood, water, and metal. Each of these elements corresponds to a color, and knowing which color symbolizes which element will help you create the right feeling in your room.

HALLS AND ENTRANCES. According to Feng Shui, you should use neutral and earth-tone colors in hallways and entrances. Whites, browns, and even blacks have unifying effects and are easy on the eyes. Each of these shades will affect you differently: Pure white represents truth and can lead you to higher spiritual knowledge. But used in excess, it can feel sterile. Earth tones like the color brown represent nature and fertility. Brown is also a "balancing" color that can help you overcome depression. But, as with white, too much brown will make you feel stagnant. Black, while associated with grief, can be dramatic when used sparingly.

BEDROOMS AND BATHROOMS. Cool colors like blues and greens are best to use in bathrooms. In Feng Shui, the color blue reflects love, heals, and relaxes. It has a calming and soothing effect---something you definitely want to have in your bedroom as you rest---but is sometimes also associated with adventuring since it is the color of the wide open sky. Crisp greens are also a good choice for your bed or bath as they also make us feel calm and balanced and remind us of abundance in nature.

MEDITATION ROOMS. Purple is the way to go for meditation rooms. The color purple symbolizes a connection to spirituality in Feng Shui. It is said to promote relaxation and enhance intuition, wisdom, and dignity. As with any color, use it sparingly as overuse of the color purple is associated with fatigue, physical and mental illness, and even snobbery.

KITCHENS, DINING ROOMS, LIVING ROOMS. Since these areas are the main places in your home where people will congregate, you want to use Feng Shui to choose warm colors that uplift and stimulate. Red is a great choice for a dining room as it promotes digestion and is associated with joy, love, and strength. It is a very lucky color in Feng Shui. Just be careful to pick the right red as overly bright shades can generate fear and excessive anger. Orange is also a great color for these gathering spaces as it is a social color that promotes optimism, energy, and creativity. Uplifting yellow colors will also have a mood-lifting effect, promote digestion, and be lucky.